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Monday, August 17, 2015

Full Cup Now Empty in Buckhead

Buckhead bakery & cafe abruptly closes

Full Cup, a fresh bread bakery and cafe, has closed at Powers Ferry Square in north Buckhead. The locally owned boutique bakery had previously been located in Buckhead West Village but relocated to its current home in 2011. (The former Full Cup on Paces Ferry Place is today home to Jenny Levison's Cafe Jonah & the Magical Attic.)

A simple sign posted to the door of the 604 square foot bakery announced Saturday (8/15) that "Full Cup is out of Business."

Full Cup served a variety of fresh breads, muffins and fiber energy bars as well assorted sandwiches, soups and beverages.

I was unable to reach anyone with the bakery but am confident I know at least one factor that contributed to the closure: Bartaco. With their size and popularity, the new casual eatery, which opened this year in place of Dunkin' Donuts, monopolizes a majority of the nearby parking.

Adjacent to the Full Cup space, a new doughnut shop, Bon Glaze, plans to open later this year. Occupying a slightly smaller, 594 square foot space, I fear Bon Glaze will have similar issues. Both Full Cup and Bon Glaze attract consumers looking to run in for a quick bite or to grab some food to go. This type of quick errand is made difficult given the parking issues that exist and has been made worse by the nearly all day popularity of bartaco. By no means am I blaming bartaco for causing Full Cup's closure, but I do think Full Cup suffered at the expense of bartaco's popularity.

While Buckhead Bread does a great job (Cretzel anyone?) on Piedmont Road, I think there is definitely room for more than one similar business in Buckhead. While the closure sign basically says that Full Cup is "out of business," I'm hopeful that ownership will be able to secure another nearby location to serve their patrons.

If Full Cup were to reopen, where should they do so? Were you a fan of Full Cup? Do you agree that parking issues likely led to their demise?

20 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This shopping center clearly doesn't have enough parking. Places are opening and closing at will. You would think someone would get the hint at some point and add more parking. The entire parking lot is very confusing to navigate, with one way lanes taking you around a maze. I don't even know how Panera or Uncle Maddio's stay in business. Whenever I'm driving by there, I'm more focused on the traffic and trying to get through there rather than stopping in a shopping center where there is no parking. Why not look at Buckhead Crossing just down the road for inspiration, where TJ Maxx and Bed, Bath and Beyond are. 1 big parking lot and a lower level parking lot.

I'm heartbroken! That was a "go-to" lunch spot for me. Fantastic pimento cheese and wonderful basil chicken salad on homemade bread. Small menu, but everything was tasty. That said, the parking situation was a major inconvenience. I wish they would move into the new Gateway to Sandy Springs development (where Sprouts is located). North Buckhead/Chastain Park would welcome a local coffee shop with classic and wholesome lunch offerings. Come back, Full Cup!

Very very sad! I loved running in to pick up a quick healthy lunch and often bought teacher lunches there. Parking did become ridiculous. Such a poorly designed lot for the volume of traffic. I would love for them to open at Gateway Sandy Springs. We need businesses like this! Come back Full Cup!!

I am the original founder of Full Cup from 1998-2008. This news makes me very sad. Very hard for a small mom and pop business to make it anymore with rising costs of goods and enormous rents. Took me 3 years to find the original site for Full Cup because parking is such an issue in Buckhead. Anyway...I'm proud that Full Cup had a 17 year run but sad for the current owners and employees. There is nowhere to buy fresh milled bread unless you make it yourself. No other bread store in Buckhead mills their own flour....not Whole Foods, nobody. Personally, I have not bought a loaf of store-bought bread in 15 years...wouldn't touch the stuff! Sending heartfelt best wishes to the staff. Thank you for your hard work and dedication all these years to bring a very healthy, back-to-basics(like your great grandmothers)-fresh milled-superior product to the people of Buckhead.

I am Full Cup's neighbor, Vue Eyewear. The parking can get a little crazy at lunch time but we all have assigned spots in front of our stores for a speedy in and out. I rarely have a problem finding parking but I may have to walk a few rows. I doubt it was the parking that caused the issues. They did have a good little customer base but I am sure like all of us small independent businesses we could all use really strong local support.

As a local small business owner myself, it is getting harder and harder to compete with the deep pockets of the big companies. Our small, independent thrift store came close to shutting the doors but thanks to the landlord, we were able to keep going. I do wish more people would support their local small business!

I love love love Full Cup, but rarely was there more than one other person in there with me. I don't think it was parking, I think it's always just been a small, quite sandwich shop that you just had to know about. Marketing is awfully important and was definitely not a part of Full Cup's routine. I think they would be successful as a sandwich delivery type business where they go to offices and sell their food to people who don't have time to leave for lunch.

I worked at Full Cup in 2007 as a highschool senior and have seen it pass through three different owners. Full Cup is no ordinary, small business bakery. It is an endeavor founded on a passion for health, chronic disease prevention, and serving others. Carol, the founder, created recipes which helped get her health back on track and felt so strongly about the effectiveness that she opened Full Cup. Anyone who has tried the bread, cookies or muffins know how delicious they are, but may not have known what made the bread so special and why it cost a little more than a normal loaf. I'm frustrated to hear that Full Cup is out of business. The product lacked sufficient marketing, education, and excitement towards its last years. This is a product that needs explaining with the same passion that Carol had so many years before. I don't think enough new patrons were given sufficient information to understand how the wheat berry was milled that day and why maintaining the integrity of the wheat germ and shell is so vital to our health. This bread that lacks preservatives and is chocked full of nutrients is a response to the processed wheat takeover. I have a gluten sensitivity, but I don't react to this bread. It is in a league of its own and is the only way that we should consume wheat. I will dearly miss the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, the cinnamon raisin bread, and the Ezekiel muffins. I hope that Full Cup will resurface in some way in Atlanta in the future!

I worked at Full Cup in 2007 as a highschool senior and have seen it pass through three different owners. Full Cup is no ordinary, small business bakery. It is an endeavor founded on a passion for health, chronic disease prevention, and serving others. Carol, the founder, created recipes which helped get her health back on track and felt so strongly about the effectiveness that she opened Full Cup. Anyone who has tried the bread, cookies or muffins know how delicious they are, but may not have known what made the bread so special and why it cost a little more than a normal loaf. I'm frustrated to hear that Full Cup is out of business. The product lacked sufficient marketing, education, and excitement towards its last years. This is a product that needs explaining with the same passion that Carol had so many years before. I don't think enough new patrons were given sufficient information to understand how the wheat berry was milled that day and why maintaining the integrity of the wheat germ and shell is so vital to our health. This bread that lacks preservatives and is chocked full of nutrients is a response to the processed wheat takeover. I have a gluten sensitivity, but I don't react to this bread. It is in a league of its own and is the only way that we should consume wheat. I will dearly miss the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, the cinnamon raisin bread, and the Ezekiel muffins. I hope that Full Cup will resurface in some way in Atlanta in the future!

I am devastated to learn that Full Cup has closed. I've been a customer of the shop since 2001 when it was owned by Carol Taylor. In fact, my bible study used to meet in the upstairs "attic" in the original location. Carol was kind enough to come speak to my students about the lack of nutrients in mass produced breads sold in grocery stores. She'd bring her grinder, fresh grains for the kids to touch and feel, and let them feel the difference between freshly ground grains and processed flour. Carol and the more recent owners were wonderful people working hard to maintain a business that was all about doing things the right way in the midst of our hurried culture. I used to be right around the corner from the shop, but when I got married, I moved outside of Buckhead. I still drove in every couple weeks to get a few loaves to freeze to last me until my next trip in. Carol, if you read this, I'd really love to hear from you. I used to be part of Donna A.'s bible study. I believe you and she knew each other well, and I loved meeting in Full Cup's attic and looking through all the wonderful items in the shop.Thank you for 14 years of delicious, healthful bread, Full Cup!

Heartbroken Full Cup closed! I was a loyal customer for five years… Ever since they were on Paces ferry place. I'm sure they had their repeat customers, but not sure they had the popularity to keep up with the rent at that location. If anyone, or the ex- owner who commented above, knows that basil chicken salad recipe PLEASE share. I'm addicted to it and I fear I will start having withdrawals soon :)